I am not sure it is all about religion--or even about religion at all. I think that extremists use religion as a reason/motivation to bring in new recruits to carry out their bidding. I think that religion is just a smoke screen for other motivation.

I think that the people who are leading the attacks on Israel are beyond religion...I think it is all political.

If it really was about religion according to their "books" they wouldn't be fighting now would they? it's political, it's selfish and blah blah woof woof.

It all comes down to the centuries-long saga of who gets to control and occupy Palestine. The biblical contexts are too strong to ignore. Hammas probably cares about what little oil production there is, but Hezbollah couldn't care less - they would just as soon burn the stuff off as sell it. What are the political motivations for an uncoordinated, haphazard strike that will only ensure more destruction and death? Who do they want to align with? Further, what kind of government allows such a huge stockpiling of missiles and bombs by a radical organization without anyone knowing or caring? And then calling upon the international community for help?

My god can beat-up your god, so there.

Exactly.

Bot, I disagree.

I think that the masses who do the actual fighting may be manipulated in the name of religion...a very convenient tool.

But the people doing the actual manipulation could not care less about religion.

I hate to say it, but this is all Europe's fault.
This doesn't go back to thousands of years, etc,etc.
This goes back to after the first world war when the English divided the old Ottoman empire and created Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. These were all British Mandates around the 1920's-1930's. Then, when the Jews were persecuted all over Europe by Fascists like the Austrians, Germans and Italians, and when these fascists suceeded in exterminating three quarters of the Jewish race, only then was Zionism born.

Definition of Zionism from Wikipedia:

Zionism is a political movement and ideology that supports a homeland for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, where the Jewish nation originated over 3,200 years ago and where Jewish kingdoms and self-governing states have existed up to the 2nd century. While Zionism is based in part upon religious tradition linking the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, the modern movement was originally secular, beginning largely as a response to rampant antisemitism in Europe and many parts of the Muslim world during the 19th Century. After a number of advances and setbacks, and after the Holocaust had destroyed much of the existing Jewish society in Europe, the Zionist movement culminated in the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

After all that's happened to Jews over many centuries all over the world, I would bet my life that you will never, ever, ever see Israel "wiped off the map". Never. Ever. It's the only truly safe place for Jews in case some large group of people decides that they should be slaves again. It's safe even when rockets are coming down on them. Why can't those Arabs understand that? Israel is just looking to defend their homeland, not invade. The funny thing is Iran is roughly 50+ times bigger than Israel (geographically), and they wouldn't stand a chance against Israel's army... it would be bloody, but my money would be on Israel. Those Arabs are never going to learn. And those Europeans should shut the fcuk up right now, and let Israel correct Europe's mistakes. Chirac is an idiot.

The only thing that separates us from the animal kingdom is our ability to accessorise an outfit...

The Israel military is using Hezbollah as an example and attempting to bomb and otherwise force Hezbollah participants into not being able to continue the pattern of intrusion into Israel. The goal of the Israel military is to destroy as many semi-selected targets as they can to pursue this end. Hezbollah is one example of the many factions in the ME that seek to damage Israel.

In the case of the folks who attack Israel, they appear to be driven by the many faces of race based hatred. Hezbollah, the primary example of the moment has 2 faces:

1) “The civilian wing of Hezbollah runs hospitals, news services, and educational facilities and participates in the Lebanese Parliament. Its Reconstruction Campaign (Jihad al-Bina) is responsible for numerous economic and infrastructural development projects in Shia-populated areas of Lebanon.”

2) “Hezbollah is regarded by many inside and outside of the Arab and Muslim worlds, such as the Iranian and Syrian governments, as a legitimate resistance movement and is a recognized political party in Lebanon, where it has participated in government.

“However, as it initiates attacks against civilians in Israel and ideologically supports such attacks by other organizations, such as Islamic Jihad and Hamas, many governments, including the United States, have designated it a terrorist organization.” source

Why Hezbollah desires to to run hospitals and perform acts of terrorism is beyond me. In summary and IMO, Hezbollah it is a product of and example of duplicitous race based hatred.

To gain public support for their terrorism. Hamas has done the same for years. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you" is their followers' ideology.

Mike...for aguy who displays such poor taste in your car choices (as shown in your signature--read through this entire message) you are very insightful when it comes to politics.

I agree with you:

1. The Euros should just shut the f**k up and stay the hell out of Israel's business.

2. Israel has a right to self-survival and, as the only democratically elected secular government in the region, they deserve our fullsupport.

3. Chirac is not only an idiot, but he is an anti-Semite and a big COME-MIERDA.

And, BTW, I was just yanking your chain about the cars in your signature.

Oh you silly girl....:D

i saw a 240D on cnn.. again

Cold eyed appraisal...
 

Not a pleasant scenario this fellow (sounds Jewish) presents but he may have a point:

Hunker Down With History

By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Washington Post

The greatest mistake Israel could make at the moment is to forget that Israel itself is a mistake. It is an honest mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable, but the idea of creating a nation of European Jews in an area of Arab Muslims (and some Christians) has produced a century of warfare and terrorism of the sort we are seeing now. Israel fights Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south, but its most formidable enemy is history itself.

This is why the Israeli-Arab war, now transformed into the Israeli-Muslim war (Iran is not an Arab state), persists and widens. It is why the conflict mutates and festers. It is why Israel is now fighting an organization, Hezbollah, that did not exist 30 years ago and why Hezbollah is being supported by a nation, Iran, that was once a tacit ally of Israel's. The underlying, subterranean hatred of the Jewish state in the Islamic world just keeps bubbling to the surface. The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and some other Arab countries may condemn Hezbollah, but I doubt the proverbial man in their street shares that view.

There is no point in condemning Hezbollah. Zealots are not amenable to reason. And there's not much point, either, in condemning Hamas. It is a fetid, anti-Semitic outfit whose organizing principle is hatred of Israel. There is, though, a point in cautioning Israel to exercise restraint -- not for the sake of its enemies but for itself. Whatever happens, Israel must not use its military might to win back what it has already chosen to lose: the buffer zone in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip itself.

Hard-line critics of Ariel Sharon, the now-comatose Israeli leader who initiated the pullout from Gaza, always said this would happen: Gaza would become a terrorist haven. They said that the moderate Palestinian Authority would not be able to control the militants and that Gaza would be used to fire rockets into Israel and to launch terrorist raids. This is precisely what has happened.

It is also true, as some critics warned, that Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon was seen by its enemies -- and claimed by Hezbollah -- as a defeat for the mighty Jewish state. Hezbollah took credit for this, as well it should. Its persistent attacks bled Israel. In the end, Israel got out and the United Nations promised it a secure border. The Lebanese army would see to that. (And the check is in the mail.)

All that the critics warned has come true. But worse than what is happening now would be a retaking of those territories. That would put Israel smack back to where it was, subjugating a restless, angry population and having the world look on as it committed the inevitable sins of an occupying power. The smart choice is to pull back to defensible -- but hardly impervious -- borders. That includes getting out of most of the West Bank -- and waiting (and hoping) that history will get distracted and move on to something else. This will take some time, and in the meantime terrorism and rocket attacks will continue.

In his forthcoming book, "The War of the World," the admirably readable British historian Niall Ferguson devotes considerable space to the horrific history of the Jews in 19th- and 20th-century Europe. Never mind the Holocaust. In 1905 there were pogroms in 660 different places in Russia, and more than 800 Jews were killed -- all this in a period of less than two weeks. This was the reality of life for many of Europe's Jews.

Little wonder so many of them emigrated to the United States, Canada, Argentina or South Africa. Little wonder others embraced the dream of Zionism and went to Palestine, first a colony of Turkey and later of Britain. They were in effect running for their lives. Most of those who remained -- 97.5 percent of Poland's Jews, for instance -- were murdered in the Holocaust.

Another gifted British historian, Tony Judt, wraps up his recent book "Postwar" with an epilogue on how the sine qua non of the modern civilized state is recognition of the Holocaust. Much of the Islamic world, notably Iran under its Holocaust-denying president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stands outside that circle, refusing to make even a little space for the Jews of Europe and, later, those from the Islamic world. They see Israel not as a mistake but as a crime. Until they change their view, the longest war of the 20th century will persist deep into the 21st. It is best for Israel to hunker down.

Exactly. I don't know the story so could someone please enlighten me on whose bright idea was this to put Israel in that geographic region to begin with. I mean thats like a black/white interracial couple moving into a house in which their neighbours on all four points of the compass are KKK/Neo nazi members. I don't care how much fire power they have or how much the law is on their side, they will not get a descent nights sleep from day one!

Israel is doomed to fight these battles for centuries.

Israelis look like a bunch of battle hardened people. So much for the promise land.